A mistake led to an idea. That idea failed, which led to an even better idea.

It was 2009, and he was working in IT at Liberty Life, a financial company based in Johannesburg. While using their systems, he accidentally created a feedback loop in a messaging service they were using. If you were on the company's development team that day, you would have gotten 500 text messages, all at once.

Fortunately, Mapaya had understanding bosses. He wasn't fired. But a seed of an idea had been planted.

Mapaya grew up in Limpopo, one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. When he was a teenager, he became a rabid fan of local hip-hop, bumping tracks from groups like Skwatta Kamp. After moving to Johannesburg, he tried to find their CD in local record stores and became frustrated when he couldn't. Nor could he easily access their music online. Internet penetration in South Africa has historically been extremely poor—as of May 2012, only 8.6 million people out of a population of nearly 50 million had access, according to research company World Wide Worx, and bandwidth rates have always been appallingly slow.

But the triple-figure text-message bomb at his company made Mapaya think. What if there was a way for people to access local tunes on their cellphones—of which there are over 29 million active users?

Today, Mapaya is the owner of one of the hottest properties in African music. It's called KasiMP3—'kasi' being local slang for 'township'—and three million songs have been downloaded from it, with just under 50,000 unsigned artists offering their music. A staggering 90 percent of people who access the service do so on their phones, downloading local hip-hop, dance, kwaito, and gospel.

"When I started, I didn't want to create a global brand," Mapaya says. "I just wanted a place where you could get local music. And we broke a lot of boundaries—the music industry didn't have a product like this. It just happened that the way I designed the product made it work well in South Africa."

KasiMP3 works because it's incredibly simple. Logging on, you're presented with a mobile-screen-friendly chart listing the most downloaded tracks. You can preview and download songs with any mobile device that has Internet access through a phone network. The service works on computers, too, allowing regular downloads of songs. Artists don't pay a cent to sign up—they earn royalties from every download, with the site making its money from banner advertising.

That's not to say KasiMP3 had an easy birth. Mapaya originally marketed it as a service named Shipa (local slang for 'shop') and offered tracks at five Rand (50p) a pop, downloadable by text message. It failed early on, struggling to attract customers, with artists preferring free services like MP3Twit. The text messaging service, while initially the core of the idea, didn't survive.

He also faced indifference from investors—and when he did get the service up and running, he was accused of piracy. Artists had been posting unauthorised remixes of big-name songs on the site, and it wasn't long before local label Soul Candi Records came calling, threatening to report Mapaya to the industry body RISA (Recording Industry of South Africa)—despite his promises to delete the tracks. He even claims he offered RISA administrative control of the site, allowing them to nix any tracks they saw fit. The battle forced a temporary shutdown while Mapaya regrouped.

But what saved KasiMP3 was a choice to focus on unsigned artists. There was no point, Mapaya realized, in bothering with major labels when there thousands of talented, unsigned rappers making music. "The good thing about the unsigned artists is that you can build something quickly—there's a lot of them out there," he says. "The big artists will upload their songs everywhere, and promote their music in general—but an unsigned artist will upload their track to KasiMP3 and then go and promote the site on Twitter, in the streets, wherever. In a way, the up and coming artists are the marketing arm of the business!"

Wired independently contacted Siya Shezi, whose thumping track Is'Deleli was number one on the site's download charts at the time of writing. Despite only being signed up for a month, he's managed to clock over 10,000 downloads of his three uploaded songs, with Is'Deleli taking just under 4000 of those. "I'm getting mad love on KasiMP3," he says. "I heard about it from a friend—a rapper from, let's say, the deeper side of Soweto—and I'd also seen it on Facebook."

Shezi hasn't received any royalty payments from the site yet, but says he knows several people who have. "At the moment, I'm just using the site to reach my fans. I leave the financial side to my management team."

Mapaya got what he wanted: a place where anyone can get local music, no matter how obscure the artist. "I don't want to create a site that will become the most-used site on the net, or top ten, or whatever," he says. "I want a site that can work outside of the [music] system and give artists a chance."

This idea could work in other countries.It could revitalize the music industry and free it from the control of the Record Companies.Unsigned artists could have a chance at the top without signing up for any music label.

This idea could work in other countries.It could revitalize the music industry and free it from the control of the Record Companies.Unsigned artists could have a chance at the top without signing up for any music label.

But at this point, Apple, Google, and Amazon control virtually the whole market and would be sure to make it as hard as heck for anybody else to come in and start selling music. At this point the best thing for indie artists is probably to find an indie record company to help you.

This is the concept that scares RIAA, MPAA and other monopolistic associations. If artists can get discovered, recieve money and become popular without them, what good are they to anyone? We need more of these sites to become popular.

But at this point, Apple, Google, and Amazon control virtually the whole market and would be sure to make it as hard as heck for anybody else to come in and start selling music. At this point the best thing for indie artists is probably to find an indie record company to help you.

Quit thinking what they WANT you to believe.Go ahead and try something new.

But at this point, Apple, Google, and Amazon control virtually the whole market and would be sure to make it as hard as heck for anybody else to come in and start selling music. At this point the best thing for indie artists is probably to find an indie record company to help you.

Quit thinking what they WANT you to believe.Go ahead and try something new.

No! I must worship the [sarcasm]almighty apple![/sarcasm]I've tried quite a few other music services, and while they offer a usable and cheaper alternative, they just don't have the kind of integration that I need. Hopefully that'll change in a while.

The only problem is studio albums cost a heck of a lot of money.... something recorded in your buddies basement not surprisingly is always going to sound like something you recorded in a basement! People are always going to buy the album with live sessions, of studio musicians, using sometimes extremely rare and expensive instruments, in multi million dollar studios. And then you are going to have to press a bunch of CDs because folks that know or can hear better aren't going to settle for .mp3s.

The only problem is studio albums cost a heck of a lot of money.... something recorded in your buddies basement not surprisingly is always going to sound like something you recorded in a basement! People are always going to buy the album with live sessions, of studio musicians, using sometimes extremely rare and expensive instruments, in multi million dollar studios. And then you are going to have to press a bunch of CDs because folks that know or can hear better aren't going to settle for .mp3s.

The only problem is studio albums cost a heck of a lot of money.... something recorded in your buddies basement not surprisingly is always going to sound like something you recorded in a basement! People are always going to buy the album with live sessions, of studio musicians, using sometimes extremely rare and expensive instruments, in multi million dollar studios. And then you are going to have to press a bunch of CDs because folks that know or can hear better aren't going to settle for .mp3s.

Flac just saying.Also one doesn't have to exclude the other. Just because people want those expensive to produce albums doesn't mean music produced and recorded far less expensively can't be available alongside the studio albums.

This idea could work in other countries.It could revitalize the music industry and free it from the control of the Record Companies.Unsigned artists could have a chance at the top without signing up for any music label.

You just don't understand it will work, then.

What will happen is the big labels will use sites like this to discover new talent and they will approach the popular artists directly (it isn't hard). The labels still make their money while guys like this get chump change. Nothing will change because of this, except perhaps that it gives the opportunity for someone to make it who wouldn't have before.

The only problem is studio albums cost a heck of a lot of money.... something recorded in your buddies basement not surprisingly is always going to sound like something you recorded in a basement! People are always going to buy the album with live sessions, of studio musicians, using sometimes extremely rare and expensive instruments, in multi million dollar studios. And then you are going to have to press a bunch of CDs because folks that know or can hear better aren't going to settle for .mp3s.

Flac just saying.Also one doesn't have to exclude the other. Just because people want those expensive to produce albums doesn't mean music produced and recorded far less expensively can't be available alongside the studio albums.

In a sense this is a throwback to the radio DJ, where he would be handed record singles, and later cassette tapes, in a effort to promote live shows. This then mingled with ad jingles for products and services within the broadcast area to pay for the operation of the station.

This idea could work in other countries.It could revitalize the music industry and free it from the control of the Record Companies.Unsigned artists could have a chance at the top without signing up for any music label.

You just don't understand it will work, then.

What will happen is the big labels will use sites like this to discover new talent and they will approach the popular artists directly (it isn't hard). The labels still make their money while guys like this get chump change. Nothing will change because of this, except perhaps that it gives the opportunity for someone to make it who wouldn't have before.

Yes, this is probably not a good way for the middle-man to get very rich; best-sellers will get skimmed off, so the model where best-sellers subsidise up-and-comers isn't available.

But rarely do we measure the virtue of projects by whether they let the middle-man become very rich. And up-and-comers are often ready to subsidise themselves; it's not generally financially wise for them to do so, but we're pretty used to indie musicians not being paragons of financial wisdom.

One rand per download for a million downloads a year easily pays for the servers and probably makes you more money than were you running a corner shop somewhere in Soweto.

The only problem is studio albums cost a heck of a lot of money.... something recorded in your buddies basement not surprisingly is always going to sound like something you recorded in a basement! People are always going to buy the album with live sessions, of studio musicians, using sometimes extremely rare and expensive instruments, in multi million dollar studios. And then you are going to have to press a bunch of CDs because folks that know or can hear better aren't going to settle for .mp3s.

Ah yes and after all that expensive work some retard will still compress the shit out of the dynamic range and then to mp3 and try to sell it for a lot of money.

Sorry but it's been ages since anything newly produced actually sounded good. Sure there are exceptions but most of the normal music already sounds like it was recorded by a mobile phone and played up over apple in-ear buds.Once industry actually starts producing and offering good quality you might have a point but until then it doesn't really matter where it's recorded.

The only problem is studio albums cost a heck of a lot of money.... something recorded in your buddies basement not surprisingly is always going to sound like something you recorded in a basement! People are always going to buy the album with live sessions, of studio musicians, using sometimes extremely rare and expensive instruments, in multi million dollar studios. And then you are going to have to press a bunch of CDs because folks that know or can hear better aren't going to settle for .mp3s.

Disagree completely. You just have to see the quality of some 'homemade' videos / tracks on youtube to understand that 'good quality' music/videos is easily producible at modest costs. Heck even mid-range phones can record HD video now. In this day and age of flavour of the day/week/month music who really needs the quality afforded by very expensive studios. Listen to beat and enjoy life.

There is a place for studio-quality albums, but I am no longer an 'audiophile'. I don't have time to sit and listen to music like I used to do. Nowadays I am too much on the go listening to music in my car, etc. Granted I have good headphones, but I still listen to static-ridden golden oldies. It adds to it. Same with music made in the bedroom.

Music comes, it goes (the good stuff sticks around for ever) If this type of solution can monetise an income for the unsigned artists easily then great. If the song becomes a classic and can actually make the top 40, the music video and hopefully a better quality track will surely follow. Heck, this guy could setup a basic soundproof studio and get them to record their stuff (yes, like a music studio) on a pay-as-you-use basis. No need for stupid contracts. But by offering a basket of choices - there is opportunity for growth.

The only problem is studio albums cost a heck of a lot of money.... something recorded in your buddies basement not surprisingly is always going to sound like something you recorded in a basement! People are always going to buy the album with live sessions, of studio musicians, using sometimes extremely rare and expensive instruments, in multi million dollar studios. And then you are going to have to press a bunch of CDs because folks that know or can hear better aren't going to settle for .mp3s.

Disagree completely. You just have to see the quality of some 'homemade' videos / tracks on youtube to understand that 'good quality' music/videos is easily producible at modest costs. Heck even mid-range phones can record HD video now. In this day and age of flavour of the day/week/month music who really needs the quality afforded by very expensive studios. Listen to beat and enjoy life.

++ This! While none of my personal recordings quite have that "Abbey Road" polish, it's amazing what you can accomplish without even a soundproof room. Granted, annoyed cats make for many many re-takes, but with the amount of only moderately-expensive recording equipment available these days, someone with a bit of know-how can generate recordings at least as good as anything the Lovin' Spoonful ever released. They'll never be as GOOD as the Lovin' Spoonful, but that's a whole other discussion.

The only problem is studio albums cost a heck of a lot of money.... something recorded in your buddies basement not surprisingly is always going to sound like something you recorded in a basement! People are always going to buy the album with live sessions, of studio musicians, using sometimes extremely rare and expensive instruments, in multi million dollar studios. And then you are going to have to press a bunch of CDs because folks that know or can hear better aren't going to settle for .mp3s.

Not true. Small basement recording labs are not that hard to build. The materials are cheap and the know-how is out there. Computers are fast and the editing tools are out there. The "big" investment is in mikes and cabling, and some of that can be shared with other operations. There's a band here at work who has been doing recordings at a small local studio and their product sounds very professional.

bongbong wrote:This idea could work in other countries.It could revitalize the music industry and free it from the control of the Record Companies.Unsigned artists could have a chance at the top without signing up for any music label.

You just don't understand it will work, then.

What will happen is the big labels will use sites like this to discover new talent and they will approach the popular artists directly (it isn't hard). The labels still make their money while guys like this get chump change. Nothing will change because of this, except perhaps that it gives the opportunity for someone to make it who wouldn't have before.

This does help the Artists who otherwise will never be given a chance by the Big Music labels becauseof the decisions of a few people in control.Ex 1) You have a great voice but Your not sexy enough 2) We feel like you wont hit our target market3) Your music is too edgy.etcNow Artists could prove that they have a willing market for their music and if they do get popular enough to be signed on by a big music label, well then congrats to them.Yep Big Music wont change BUT at least more Artists can get a share of the market pie.